Credit Craig McIntosh
Poster Paints Release ‘Circus Moving On’
Out 14th October via Ernest Jenning Record Co. & Olive Grove Records
+Announces Album Launch Show
Poster Paints are excited to release their new track ‘Circus Moving On’, taken from their upcoming self-titled debut album which is due out on 14th October via Ernest Jenning Record Co. & Olive Grove Records. The track follows the single ‘Falling Hard’, which accompanied last month’s album announcement and received strong support from BBC 6 Music.
Vocalist Carla J Easton had to say on the track:
“Walking the fine line between regret and not caring about choices made. One of those songs. You meet someone and it’s doomed to fail but you stretch it out as far as it will go. Needing the darkness in order to shine. The criticism. Being drawn to people that aren’t good for you and unable to leave or let go. The fleeting moments where everything seems fine and happy – the excitement and elation of something beginning and trying to hang and hold on to that feeling. Sonically – this is our orchestral blowout on the album.
We worked remotely with Andrew Jin Chung based in Canada for the beautiful string arrangements that really made the final recording soar. The initial idea was built around Mellotron sounds after a discussion about how much we both loved the song ‘All My Happiness Is Gone’ by Purple Mountains. Subconsciously that was perhaps a jumping off point for the lyrics and combining the classic sad/happy juxtaposition between words and sound. It’s not the Poster Paints sound you might be expecting but it’s one of our favourites on the album and is a joy to play live”
The duo has also announced an album launch party for 22nd October at The Glad Café in Glasgow, support comes from Flinch and Simply Thrilled (DJ Set) and tickets are on sale now.
Poster Paints are Carla J Easton and Simon Liddell. Two beloved Scottish musicians who orbited through the same thriving music scene, Carla as an award-winning solo artist and member of TeenCanteen and Simon as part of Frightened Rabbit and Olympic Swimmers, who were introduced by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee of The Vaselines. The pair seemed destined to collaborate, yet the musical outfit they created happened purely by chance.
“The project started as an accident before the pandemic kicked off” says Carla, “Si had sent me an instrumental for a piece he had scored for a short film and asked if I could put some vocals on it. I completely misunderstood what he was asking me to do and wrote an entire song to the piece of music and emailed it back to him. When harsh lockdowns kicked in, we both decided we would try and do some more songs like this – it was a way to keep collaborating when you couldn’t even go for a walk outside with someone from another household never mind be in a rehearsal room with someone.”
Applying for funding through Creative Scotland meant the pair’s immediate musical chemistry thrived in the subsequent months and allowed the remote working that had worked so well extend out across the globe, roping in friends from the USA (Gabbie Coenan AKA RVBY MY DEAR), Canada (Andrew Chung and Laura Hickli) as well as across Scotland (Jonny Scott from CHVRCHES who played drums across the entire record, Lomond Campbell, Graeme Smillie from Arab Strap, Suse Bear from Pictish Trail, Andy Monaghan from Frightened Rabbit and Amanda Williams AKA AMA JANE) as collaborators on their debut album.
The band released their debut single ‘Number 1’ last year, the track was described as “reverb-splattered, riotous guitar melodies and supercharged vocals with jangle-pop primacy” (The Line of Best Fit) and received extensive play from Marc Riley via BBC 6Music, BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Scotland. It was released on vinyl postcard for Record Store Day, with both tracks supported by Creative Scotland. They followed with a surprise release EP ‘Blood Orange’, a brace of headline shows and support slots with Belle & Sebastian, Admiral Fallow and Teenage Fanclub. For a duo who found each other almost by accident, the immediate connection to their music from peers and fans alike more than suggests that Poster Paints were always meant to be here.
Track-Listing
- Still Got You
- Number One
- Not Sorry
- Never Saw It Coming
- Circus Moving On
- Falling Hard
- Ribbons ft. Lomond Campbell
- Rupture
- Hard To Sweeten
- My Song
Live Dates
26th August – Jupiter Rising (Festival), Edinburgh
22nd October – The Glad Café, Glasgow
